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Saeran
'Saeran '(born Meaghier 19th, 1053 A.C.), Lord of the First and Defender of the Breach, is the current devil lord of Avernus. Taking command of the Avernian Legion after the deaths of Bel, the former Lord of the First, and Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine, Saeran was the first devil with a soul of his own. Born somewhere in Medina to an unknown mother and father, Saeran was once a mortal human. Promised to Bel by his mother, Saeran was left by her at the home of a unassuming family of Millers in southern Medina. Near his fourteenth birthday, the pact made by his mother manifested, physically altering the boy to bear diabolic features, resulting in his exile from the village. He began adventuring with a group of people he met in the Gnome Protectorates , including Princess Valina Ravennian, and his best friend, a gnome named Fonkin Nimblefingers. Together the adventuring group gathered pieces of an artifact known as the Raiment of Magubliet in an attempt to stop the demoness from entering the world. Upon their success, Bel released Saeran, resulting in the loss of his diabolic powers. Utilizing the residue of a connection to the Hells left by Bel, Saeran later bound himself directly to the plane, drawing new power from Avernus itself. He died shortly thereafter. Following his death, Saeran's essence was split in two between his soul going to a larval state in hell, and the diabolic essence formed in the connection with Avernus resettled into the plane itself, eventually gaining power and will as part of the landscape itself. As his power and influence grew, he would eventually be able to manifest himself as a unique and powerful devil in his own right. Following an unsuccessful revolt against his former slave-master, Bel, Saeran was exiled by Asmodeus back to the prime material after his soul was forcibly returned to his diabolic form and his diabolic powers sealed. There he was freed by Baern of Aiden where he joined the Seers of the Blood Moon in their adventures. As a member of the Seers of the Blood Moon, he would eventually reunite with Valina, whom he married on Astrier 24th, 1071 A.C. Later he and the Seers would embark on a quest to undo the bindings placed upon his diabolic powers, freeing him and returning them to their state prior to his imprisonment. Afterwards, Saeran aided the Seers in defeating Bel and his Dark Eight, as well as journeying to Nessus to confront and eventually destroy Asmodeus, earning the position as the new Lord of the First from the Devil Lord, Grynwell. As the Lord of the First, Saeran restructured Avernus and rebuilt keeps across the hellish plane atop the paths between Avernus and the other layers, as well as rebuilding Bel's Keep into the Bastion of Avernus where he rules over the First Layer of Hell with his war council of eight other devils. He also created the Soulbound of Avernus , a mortal army of warlocks in service to him in the Prime Material to support his efforts in guarding the Breach. Description Physical Appearance As a Devil Lord, Saeran is capable of assuming a human form, though since his self-imposed banishment from the material plane, has little reason to do so. When he does take human form, he appears as a young Medinan man in his mid-twenties with shoulder-length dark brown hair and red eyes. In his true form, Saeran maintains a humanoid shape, muscular and thin, though his lack of bulk belies his strength. His hair and eyes are a deep crimson color, much like the rocky environment of Avernus itself, and the whites of his eyes are actually solid black. His ears are long, pointed with slight tufts at the ends and from just behind his temples grow a pair of straight horns that sweep back almost parallel to his ears. His skin is the color and strength of wrought iron and from his back sprout a pair of leathery black wings, the membranes of which at times glow red-hot. His fingers and toes are tipped in razor-sharp claws. Though not a physical trait by itself, Saeran also exudes an aura of dark majesty that is terrible and awesome to behold by most mortals and even devils of lesser power. As Lord of the First, he wears the original Armor of the First, its shine and appearance that of before the betrayal of the devils of their sworn duty to battle the forces of the Abyss, revealing the purity of Saeran's purpose next to those of the other devil lords. Personality Throughout much of his life, Saeran's personality was defined by his roguish demeanor, as well as his inner conflict over the gravity, purpose, and meaning of how his life had been fated, as well as a desire to understand his destiny and place within the world. Those questions were answered when he accepted his role as Defender of the Breach. As a Devil Lord, his personality is defined most by both his knowledge and skill at maneuvering through diabolic politics and understanding of the cost of maintaining his eternal vigil. It is largely thanks to his experiences both in his mortal life and in his exile that shaped Saeran's understanding that being unique amongst his kind (being a devil with a soul) is what allows him to make the kinds of choices he must in order to secure Meaghana from the other devil lords. He is quite intelligent and charismatic, traits which make him both a great leader and general, but also able to command loyalty and obedience if and when necessary amongst his diabolic host. Mortal Life From infancy until the age of fourteen, Saeran lived a normal peasant life with adoptive parents, Alan and Claire Miller. Though he did not know his birth parents, he knew from a fairly early age that he had been adopted. He knew nothing of his father, and only that his mother had left him with the childless family out of desperation with little more than a name and a strange black-iron locket with no visible means of opening it. This all changed just before his fourteenth birthday when Saeran was in the village square helping his father bring a grain harvest to the granary. Inside the boy passed out, and when he awoke the storehouse and everything inside was on fire. He stumbled out into the street into a gathered crowd of the villagers who looked at him in horror. His hair and eyes had turned to the color of blood and the whites of his eyes had turned as black as the night sky. The villagers cried out curses and whispered amongst themselves that he was some kind of cursed demon. The villagers, frightened and angry came to his home to burn him at the stake, but thanks to his adoptive parents' pleas was exiled forever instead on pain of death. It was the next day as he was leaving that his adoptive mother gave him the locket that his mother had left with him, hoping that it would help him find his birth mother. They said their tear-filled goodbyes and Saeran left. He wandered for some months around Medina, doing whatever he could to get by, eventually managing to stow away on a caravan heading to the Gnome Protectorates. It was during his time living on the streets in the Gnome Protectorates that he would meet Fonkin Nimblefingers, a gnome who saved his life from a band of brigands who he had crossed. From that day on, Saeran and Fonkin travelled together and became best of friends. They spent about a year together thieving about and getting by in the Protectorates before they met a young woman named Valina during a goblin attack on a gnomish railwagon. It was then that Saeran decided to set out in search of answers about his past and his strange arcane powers, Valina joining them. After travelling together for some time, the three would meet a pair of high elves, Azyre and Jaren Moonsong, who joined them on their adventures. Eventually Saeran discovered that Valina was a princess of Fetesca, which would cause some friction in their burgeoning relationship. Together, the five of them travelled to Avernus where Saeran discovered his birth mother chained up in Bel's Keep as his prisoner. She revealed to him that his father had been a cleric of Hosia who had been driven mad by the locket Saeran now possessed and tried to kill her while she was pregnant with him. After she killed him with his own holy symbol, she pleaded for protection from the evil artifact that had driven the man mad, her pleas being answered by Bel, who offered her protection in exchange for her unborn son. Upon their return from Hell, Saeran and his companions travelled to Fetesca at the desire of Valina who had recieved a letter stating that her mother, the empress, had fallen ill. Together they discovered that her affliction was thanks to a curse, and so the group set themselves to the task of finding a cure. They managed to succeed, but the Empress, weakened by her illness, stepped down allowing her son Altris to assume her place. Altris would become a good friend of Saeran, who accepted Saeran immediately despite his unusual features and abilities. After the events of the Empress' illness, and an assassination attempt on Altris, it was finally revealed to Saeran that the locket he bore was a piece of an artifact that had been divided into five, called the Blood Matron's Raiment, which if brought together with the other pieces would be capable of drawing the demoness into the world like a gate. Determined to destroy the raiment once and for all, Saeran and his companions set out on a quest to gather up the other four pieces of the raiment in order to defeat the Blood Matron, drive her back into the abyss, and destroy the artifacts once and for all. The group was successful in gathering the pieces of the raiment, and defeating the Blood Matron, but as she fell, Bel emerged from Hell, using Saeran as a gateway into the Prime Material, leaving him powerless. Lost and broken without the powers he had become so accustomed to identifying himself by, Saeran turned to the plane of hell itself, using the residual powers of Bel left in his body and soul to forge a direct connection between him and the plane. In doing so, his powers returned and he continued on his adventures as the War of Lies was just in its beginning stages. It was on one of these adventures that Saeran fell in battle, ending his mortal existence forever. Early Diabolic Life Due to the nature of the connection that the mortal Saeran had made with the plane of hell itself, his soul did not simply go to the hells upon death. Part of his essence had been polluted, and aligned so perfectly with the blasted realm of Avernus that it split from his soul upon death and returned to the plane, pooling in an area as a kind of consciousness within the mountains and barren plains of Avernus itself. During this time, Saeran was known simply as "The Mountain of Blood and Fire," or simply "The Mountain." As his essence pooled in the Nine Hells, he began granting power to warlocks of his own, as well as slowly and secretly gathering diabolic servants to his side. His warlocks collected many souls for him at this time, including the Emperor of Fetesca, Altris'. This allowed him to slowly gain enough power to manifest a body. With his new diabolic form and an army of devils at his side, Saeran enacted his plan for revenge upon Bel for manipulating him in his mortal life. Avernus was lit aflame by devil battling devil, a massive rebellion sparking across the First Layer. He saw many early victories, proving himself to be a furious warrior and commander during this time, eventually moving from small skirmishes to a full siege of Bel's Keep. He destroyed many devils during his war, and it is said amongst devilkind that Saeran himself tore ten thousand devils apart with his bare hands in his siege of Bel's keep. Ultimately, his rebellion was ended, but only by the intervention of Asmodeus himself. The rebellious devil was captured, his lieutenants imprisoned across the Nine Hells, and his army destroyed. Exile As a result of his rebellion, Saeran was "cursed" by Asmodeus with his mortal soul, his diabolic powers restrained by the magic of infernal shackles on his wrists, and he was exiled and imprisoned on the Prime Material within a long-forgotten ruin so that he may never be discovered; or so he thought. For a few years, Saeran sat alone in his dark prison, unable to call upon his diabolic powers, trapped within a semi-mortal shell, and tortured by the gnawing presence of his soul. All of that changed one day when a dwarven cleric of Aiden crashed through the crumbling ruin of his prison, and in doing so, Saeran became bound to the man through diabolic contract; a twist left within the magics binding Saeran by the Lord of the Nine. Thus began Saeran's adventures with the Seers of the Blood Moon. Initially, Saeran chaffed under his master's command, irritated by the priest's attitude toward their situation. But, unable to do anything but serve his new master to the best of his ability, aided the Seers in their campaign against the Lich Ironclaw and his undead minions who seeked to utilize a cosmic event known as "the blood moon" for some nefarious purpose. It was during this time that Saeran met Ilathnis Baelridon, whom Saeran felt a sense of kinship with early on. After the destruction of one of Ironclaw's greatest servants, a vampire lord named Malnir, Saeran and the Seers travelled to the Gnome Protectorates, where he found the young woman whom he had loved in life, Valina. Her feelings upon seeing the devil were obviously mixed, but as she came to realize that Saeran's soul resided within the devil himself, she decided to join the Seers as well. On Astrier 24th, 1071 A.C. Saeran and Valina were married during a ceremony in the dwarvish holding of Eastforge. It was briefly interrupted by Valina's long-lost brother Jakob, who made an attempt on Saeran's life, but was quickly stopped by guards. Unable to bring himself to cause more loss to Valina's family, Saeran had Jakob's life spared, though he was exiled from Eastforge. It was the last time either of them saw Jakob Ravennian. Their adventures continued afterward, leading toward their final encounter with Ironclaw himself, who was using dark magic to create new and strange forms of dragons. Ironclaw was eventually destroyed and his keep taken by the Seers as their new home and base of power. The keep was named Blood Moon Keep, and a number of rennovations were made in the following years to accomodate the lives of the Seers who settled there. It was during the two years after their capturing of Blood Moon Keep that Rowan was born, almost a year to the day after the Saeran and Valina were married. Despite still remaining bound by the infernal chains which contained his powers, Saeran settled briefly into a life content with raising his newborn son. After almost two years of making no progress toward his goals of seeking his own freedom, Saeran began seeing visions and having dreams of fire; portents of a growing threat. As a result, the Seers took up their arms again and set out to finally find a means to release Saeran from his bindings that he might return to his full diabolic might. With the aid of Tara Stargazer, a means to undo the shackles was found. Gathering materials for an arcane ritual, the Seers returned to the Stargazer, who used them to undo the bindings created by her mortal enemy Asmodeus. Saeran was released, and for the first time since his exile to the Prime Material, his allies gazed upon his true form, dark and terrible as it was. With the release of his shackles, however, so too were many of the bindings which separated the Prime Material from the Nine Hells, a consequence that Asmodeus had intended. The armies of the Hells spilled out into the world, led by the Dark Eight and Bel himself. The Seers embarked on a quest to destroy the Dark Eight, successfully destroying each one in succession. Finally, with the fall of Bel, the Lord of the First, and his essence consumed by Saeran, the Seers journeyed deep into the bowels of Hell to Nessus, the Ninth Layer to finally confront and destroy Asmodeus himself. After a difficult battle, Asmodeus fell, and it was revealed that Saeran had been prodded and manipulated by the Devil Lord, Grynwell, to seek out Asmodeus' death so that she may claim his ruby rod. Not expecting Saeran to choose to stand in opposition to the devils and not utilize his ability to allow the devils free entrance into the Prime Material, Saeran became the Lord of the First, and reclaimed the ancient mantle of the Defender of the Breach. Rise to Devil-Lord Status and Beyond Immediately following his rise to lordship over Avernus, Saeran began a number of projects to shore up the defenses of the Breach and Avernus itself. With the assistance of Dispater, the Lord of Dis, Saeran rebuilt Bel's former keep, renaming it the Bastion of Avernus , where he would rule over Avernus from and command his legions in the defense of the Breach. He also built keeps over the paths between Avernus and the other layers of the Nine Hells, setting guards to watch closely the comings and goings of the servants of the other devil lords. To oversee these keeps as well as serve as advisors and bodyguards, Saeran also created the War Council of Avernus, a group of eight of his most loyal and powerful diabolic lieutenants, many of which being former mortals themselves who had served him prior to his exile. Around the same time as the founding of the Order of the Obsidian Flame , by his friend and ally the Master Slayer Ilath'nis , in 1073 A.C., Saeran began empowering warlocks again much as he had done when he first became a devil. He named these warlocks, the Soulbound of Avernus , and charged them with serving him and being his hand within the mortal world to maintain the integrity of the Breach and hunt down any and all threats to its security, offering them the reward of an afterlife serving him in Hell in return for their loyalty. In 1084 A.C., the first test of Saeran's early efforts marched to the walls and towers of the Bastion. At the command of Omadon , the Lord of Strife, many of the Devil Lords and their armies marched toward the Breach in order to try to counter the attacks by servants of Seras on Omadon's followers in the Prime. What they found when they arrived was the Lord of the First and his armies standing between them and the way into the mortal realm. Thus began the First Battle of the Breach. It was a long and bloody battle, with ground slowly giving to Omadon and his diabolic host, eventually being turned away when Hosia and an army of angels were summoned in to reinforce the defenders of the breach. High above the skies over the Bastion of Avernus, Omadon was slain and the Soulwell of Evil which he held was shattered into nine pieces, one for each of the devil lords. Saeran was the only devil lord not to claim the power for himself, instead choosing to bury it deep under the Bastion. As a result of a near-loss, Saeran has began refortifying his position, and seeking new power and ways to be able to stand against the outnumbering might of eight other scheming devil lords, knowing that should he fall, and the devils gain access to the Breach, the world would become Hell on Meaghana. Family Saeran is the only known devil to marry another being, let alone a mortal woman, out of true love. He married Valina Ravennian in 1071 while still in exile on the Prime Material. By what could be considered diabolic contract, Valina is the rightful owner of Saeran's mortal soul. Together Saeran and Valina had two children, a boy and a girl; Rowan (born in Asterier 1072) and Roselyn (born in 1074). Category:Characters Category:Mark's Characters